National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is considering putting the second package of Toll-Operate-Transfer (TOT) for rebid after tepid response, which may impact the sale of subsequent TOT packages.

"Undesired" response from the industry has prompted the authorities to discuss whether the second TOT package should be put through the entire auction process.

The recently revised standard contract agreement for national highways Centrally-sponsored road works proposed to be implemented on EPC basis could lead to a decline in the pace of new project awards in the short to medium terms, with the pending land acquisition being a primary constraint, warns a report.

Our meetings with NHAI helped obviate any funding concerns towards their near-term commitments and on their ability to scale up pace of land acquisition. Key negatives include capacity constraints (consultants, concessionaires) to materially grow pace of ordering and weak response to its second ToT package.

There was limited clarity provided on ineligibility of bidding by construction companies that delay the execution of ongoing projects.

Despite the pace of highways projects undertaken by state-run National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) picking up in the last three years, it is likely to remain short by 33-37 per cent of its FY19 target of completing 6,000 km, says Icra.

With a strong unexecuted pipeline and concerted efforts on right of way, the NHAI is on a strong footing and is set to witness sustained growth in execution in FY2019, the highest ever over the last one decade (FY2010- FY2019), the agency said in a statement issued on Monday.

Overwhelmed with the response for the first tranche of highway projects under the toll-operate-transfer (TOT) model, union minister for roads and highways Nitin Gadkari Thursday said he expects the second tranche to fetch over Rs 10,000 crore.

The maiden bundle of nine highway projects under TOT was a huge success, which was over subscribed and had fetched NHAI Rs 9,681 crore.

Tightening its fist on project financing, the road ministry, which aims to construct 30 per cent more roads each day this year, will focus on executing contracts where all requisite clearances are in place. Now, its construction wing — the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) — is focusing on judiciously planning its expenditure for the current financial year.

Even if the 13 completed and incomplete projects of IL&FS are sold, the lenders — and not the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) — will have the first right on the funds.

These disputed projects include three in Assam, two each in West Bengal and Maharashtra, and one each in Meghalaya, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. The arbitration claims in these projects are worth Rs 38.54 billion.